Garden Design!

What a beautiful weekend it was!  I'm sure those of you in the Midwest and East Coat don't want to hear this, but it was in the high 70's here Sunday.  Nice Santa Ana!  No wind - just perfect conditions!  So, I got back to work on my garden area.  Gardening in the desert is not easy task.  Below, I'm sinking posts for a totally enclosed garden and there is also metal lathe (cheaper than hardware cloth) that runs two feed down all the way around the garden so the small rodents can't dig under and get in.  Chicken wire is not satisfactory, as some of the critters can easily slip through those bigger holes.  Luckily, we got big rains two or three weeks back, so the ground was soft to dig a trench.

The garden isn't huge, but should get me started and I think I should be able to grow quite a bit.  It's about 16 feet by 12 feet and 6 feet tall.  It will have to be completely enclosed with hardware cloth - sides and top to keep birds and rodents out.  I've been prepping the soil in this area for a few months.  It is set right behind the chicken coop.  That way in the fall, I can let the chickens into the garden when it gets late in the season, they can have lots of treats and they'll fertilize it.

I also started a compost bin and that sits right behind the garden next to where the gate will be.  I got some old pallets and put in some alfalfa that got scattered and had been sitting in the feed area of my horse for over a year.  The bottom layers were already composting and turning a dark brown.  On top of that, I put some remnants of our juicing.  We juice over 25 lbs. of organic carrots a week, so we have tons of fruit and veggie pulp to put on the compost pile.

The chickens found their way in it and had a great time.  No problem as they'll just leave their own "stuff" and that will speed up the compost process even more!

Below you can see the posts for the garden.  I'll be planting in mid to late March.

Just a different view.  I really hope it works this time!  I have tried to grow things 3 seasons in a row and have been unsuccessful, but I'm going the extra mile this time! 

It's MLK day today, and I'm working but gearing up for midday Wednesday when we take off in the motorhome!  We have new neighbors and they are WONDERFUL!  Nice family and the two kids (11 and 13 years old) are soooo excited to take care of the chickens and gather eggs while we are gone.  It's so good having nice folks who you like and can trust with your stuff.